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Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Wisconsin

Sometimes, neighbors will discover that the way they've been using their land doesn't conform with the property lines that the local government has on record. When they find out, the case has to be resolved somehow. In such cases, there is usually a winner and a loser, so conflict is likely to arise.

In a seemingly-ideal situation, the neighbors will choose to ignore this new revelation, and go on as they always have. Of course, this doesn't happen frequently, and might have consequences down the road, including title eventually changing to reflect the perceived property lines, without the choice of either neighbor.

It's more frequently the case that one neighbor wants to maintain the current use of the land, property lines notwithstanding, while the other neighbor wants to enforce the property lines that are on record. This is because moving a property line necessarily expands the land of one neighbor, while shrinking the land of another. Obviously, the neighbor whose land would be shrunk will likely oppose any attempt to enforce the property lines.

People in Oak Creek, Wisconsin should also be aware of the possibility of title (ownership) disputes. Unlike the boundary disputes considered above, the outcome of a title dispute can decide who owns an entire parcel of real property. Confusion over who actually owns a piece of property is more common that some people might imagine. Many local property records are still kept on paper, are not very well-organized, and sometimes date back a hundred years or more. A lost or misfiled deed is the most common way for a title dispute to arise. However, sometimes fraud on the part of a seller can lead to title disputes. Unscrupulous individuals will sometimes try to sell the same piece of land to more than one person. And some people even try to sell property they don't own, occasionally succeeding (and this isn't just limited to bridges in London). Typically, once the buyers discover they've been duped, the "seller" is nowhere to be found, leaving them to figure out who owns the land they all thought they had purchased.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Oak Creek, Wisconsin

One customary resolution for boundary disputes is a court re-drawing the boundaries to fit with what the assumptions that the neighbors were operating under before the error was discovered. This typically happens when both parties were, for many years, aware of the actual property boundaries, and did nothing about it. Moreover, if the neighbor who has been encroaching onto the other neighbor's land has made costly improvements thereto, this weighs in favor of that neighbor, since changing the property lines would impose significant hardship on that neighbor.

A court may do the opposite, and decide to enforce the property lines as they're drawn. This will always benefit one neighbor and hurt the other. A court will probably do this if one neighbor knew that his land was encroaching onto another person's property, and actively tried to hide that fact from his neighbor. Obviously, such bad actions shouldn't be rewarded. Conversely, if the neighbor whose land was being encroached upon knew about the discrepancy, and did nothing about it, the court will likely change the property lines to reflect this prior use, to prevent that neighbor from being rewarded for "sitting on his rights."

When a title dispute comes up in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the court has to apply some pretty perplexing legal and equitable principles. These rules are sometimes very obscure, mainly because they can trace their origins back hundreds of years, to the common-law courts of England. However, a close examination of them reveals their basic goal: deciding ownership disputes based on longstanding conceptions of basic fairness.

In general, the person who initially recorded the deed at the appropriate government office will be the one who the court deems to own the land, if they didn't have any reason to know about the existence of the other deed, or other sale, or whatever else gave rise to the title conflict.

What Can A Oak Creek, Wisconsin Attorney Do?

The legal issues surrounding title and boundary disagreements can get pretty confusing, and there are typically very high stakes involved (most people think their land is pretty important). For that reason, a good Oak Creek, Wisconsin real estate attorney will prove invaluable if such a dispute arises.

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Life in Oak Creek

Oak Creek, Wisconsin is a city in Milwaukee County. It has a population of about 30,000 people. Oak Creek is a suburb of Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin. Until the 1950s, Oak Creek was mostly semi-rural farmland. It was incorporated in 1955, out of unincorporated county land. This move was orchestrated by Tony Basile, who would become Oak Creek's first city attorney. The people of Oak Creek decided to incorporate into a town so the area would not be annexed by the rapidly-expanding Milwaukee. Oak Creek is the headquarters of Midwestern Airlines, a small regional commuter airline, and the source of hundreds of jobs in the area. However, the parent company of the airline is moving its headquarters to another city. Since that announcement, a large mining equipment company announced that it would be moving its headquarters to Oak Creek, Wisconsin, to occupy the corporate offices being vacated by the airline. If you live in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and are in need of some type of legal help, Oak Creek, Wisconsin lawyers are ready to help. Oak Creek, Wisconsin lawyers can handle almost any legal problem a person might be faced with.

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Oak Creek Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Oak Creek Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Wisconsin

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Oak Creek, Wisconsin